This invention relates to heat exchangers of the type generally known as plate-type heat exchangers having corrugated plates and arranged to conduct fluids under high pressure in heat exchange relation.
Corrugated plate-type heat exchangers have been used for many applications. Typical corrugated plate-type and similar heat exchangers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,983,403; 4,360,055; 4,561,494; 4,580,625 and 5,228,515.
Such heat exchangers require only a few main parts, i.e., corrugated plates, gaskets, a stationary end plate, a movable end plate, fasteners, and inlet and outlet nozzles. In these heat exchangers, a series of gasketed metal plates, which are corrugated or embossed, are clamped together between the two end plates so that the corrugations in the plates form channels through which hot or cold fluids flow, the hot fluid being on one side of each plate and the cold fluid on the other side, with each plate acting as the heat transfer element. The gaskets are disposed at the outer peripheries of the plates and are compressed between the plates to prevent external leakage. Such corrugated plate-type heat exchangers provide significant advantages in terms of reduced cost, weight, space, thermal efficiency and the like in comparison to conventional shell and tube heat exchangers. Conventional corrugated plate-type heat exchangers, however, can only handle heat exchange fluids having a pressure up to about 400 pounds per square inch because the gaskets tend to be forced out of their locating grooves at higher pressures, causing severe leakage.